While Slovakian citizens often migrate to other EU countries for employment, gaps in the country’s labor market are filled by foreigners. The largest group among migrant workers in the Slovak Republic are Ukrainians. Our fellow citizens are four out of ten foreigners on the country’s labor market.
The number of foreigners employed in Slovakia increased by 12% over the year. Such data was published by the Ministry of Labor of the country.
As of the end of April 2024, more than 105,000 foreigners were officially working in the Slovak Republic, of which more than 41,000 were citizens of Ukraine. The second and third places in terms of the number of employed migrants are occupied by Serbia and Romania. Among the EU countries, the largest share of foreign workers in Slovakia are citizens of the Czech Republic and Hungary.
The Ministry of Labor of Slovakia reported significant changes in the ratio of foreigners from EU countries and third countries in the Slovak labor market after the coronavirus pandemic. In 2019, their shares were approximately equal, and at the beginning of 2024, foreigners from third countries already made up almost 70% of the total number.
Employers in Slovakia have long noted the lack of skilled labor. They note that the situation on the labor market at the end of last year and this year was significantly affected by the early retirement of thousands of people, as stated in the publication.
Slovakia is one of the EU countries that has received a large number of refugees from Ukraine, with Ukrainians still making up a significant part of the foreign workforce by 2022. In April 2024, the unemployment rate in Slovakia was only 5.96%. The country’s Ministry of Labor registered about 166,000 unemployed people and more than 87,000 vacancies.
